The tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary School has led to a national conversation about guns, with many arguing that access to these weapons is the problem and others claiming that arming teachers—or in the case of the NRA, putting armed policeman in schools—is the solution. Lawmakers in several states are reportedly drafting bills that would allow teachers to carry guns in the classroom. We are very troubled by these proposals, not just as the parents of school-aged children; one of us grew up in Newtown and is an education policy analyst, and the other studies youth violence prevention. And there is no evidence to support having civilians carry guns in schools and much that suggests such a move is more likely to lead to harm.

It’s important to keep in mind that while mass shootings are extremely rare, violence impacts the lives of young people every day. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report that each day, an average of 13 people between the ages of 10 and 24 are victims of homicide in the U.S., making homicide the third leading cause of death among youth and young adults; it is the leading cause of death among African American youth. Yet very little of this violence occurs on school grounds. Children spend more than a third of their waking hours on campus, but less than 2% of youth homicides occur at school.

One of the reasons why there are so few homicides at school is because these places are largely successful at keeping guns off the premises. Adult supervision and, in very high-risk schools, metal detectors have proven to be effective deterrents. While there are no specific data regarding having armed adults in schools, an analysis of U.S. mortality data found that people with guns in the home are at greater risk than those without guns in the home of dying from a homicide there. There is no reason to think schools would be any different: the more guns there are, the more opportunities there are to use them.

If arming teachers isn’t the answer, what can schools do to minimize the risk of violence? Although much work remains to be done, policy experts have begun to gather rigorous evidence that suggests the most effective strategies include improving access to mental health services, reducing access to lethal weapons and developing “early warning” systems that identify young people at risk of committing violent acts.

Within and outside of schools, we need better mental health support as well as threat assessments so that people have somewhere to turn for help when they recognize someone is in trouble and requires help. “Gatekeeper” programs, such as those used in suicide prevention may be valuable models. These programs, including one called Sources of Strength, involve training adults and peers to recognize warning signs. Gatekeepers then provide a link between young people and mental health professionals. There is limited evidence for most gatekeeper approaches, but some have revealed promising data.

But better mental health support is only one piece of the puzzle. To address the underlying causes of violence, researchers have identified a number of effective strategies such as school-based prevention programs that help all students develop their conflict-resolution skills, emotional awareness and self-control; family-based programs designed to improve parenting and solve problems in nonviolent ways, and mentoring programs that pair a young person with an adult who can serve as a positive role model and help guide the young person’s behavior.

Schools are safer when they have a culture that includes supportive teacher-student relationships and clear norms and expectations that violence is not tolerated. Students need to feel that they belong at school and that others care for them. The students most at risk of committing violence are the ones who are most alienated from school and their community. Connecting them to school and services is essential. And to do this effectively, parents and families need to be included.

While we may never completely eliminate violence in schools, research over the past 20 years has shown that we can significantly reduce the risk of violence. And the more effective we are at addressing the underlying causes and at developing effective early-warning and prevention systems, the less need there will be for policies aimed at minimizing the damage from extreme violence. Sandy Hook broke our hearts. But we need to move forward thoughtfully and use evidence-based findings, rather than heated rhetoric, to support our policy decisions.

Gorman-Smith is a professor at the University of Chicago’s School of Social Service Administration, a senior research fellow with the nonpartisan Coalition for Evidence-Based Policy and the director of the Chicago Center for Youth Violence Prevention, one of six academic centers for excellence funded by the CDC. McLaughlin, who has worked on education policy issues for the American Federation of Teachers, Teach for America and Iowa Senator Tom Harkin, attended Sandy Hook Elementary School. The views expressed are solely their own.

When a criminal enters a school with a gun, a gun is needed to defeat him. Principles and school psychologists lunging at people with weapons is admirable but utterly deviod of effectiveness. So the school calls in a good gun, carried by a policeman. Then they wait until he arrives with his good gun, and the gunman continues to kill. Of course, the gunman knew in advance he would not be immediately challenged because it was a "Defenseless Victom Zone", called by its misnomer a "Gun Free Zone".

So finally the policemane and his good gun show up and the gunman predictable kills himself. Mission accomplished.

If an armed and trained guard had just been at the school all along the gunma woiuld not have even showed up.

Also, criminals fo not follow gun laws, so that is why "Defenseless Victim Zone" is what a "Gun Freee Zone" should be called.

I'm from China, my English is not too good, but, still, I want to say something:1)If the mass shootings happened in the White House are extremely rare, so the President don't need the protecion by the Secret Service when he is in the White House?2) The United States sends bodyguards to protect the President, why can't we sent people armed with guns to protect our child when they are at school?3)Some people may say: we should do our best to prevent gun shootings, but when gun shootings happen, how can we do to preotect ourselves that we havn't any gun?

There should be hard and fast state law that anyone found possessing weapons that can kill massively should not be allowed unless he/she is holding a designation to keep weapons. Therefore, common people who work for influential people should not carry any gun etc. in public, otherwise, lawful strict action can be taken against him/her forthwith.

CO2 powered pellet guns can also be semi-automatic. The projectiles are not self contained little bombs, as bullets are. Pellet guns are not lethal but can put an eye out and deliver a world of hurt. Pellet guns are not firearms. The ammunition is very cheap and 100 shot repeaters will outshoot a 30 round clip of bullets. They don't have to look like guns. They can be made to look like a book or a camera. The principal and some teachers can handle them without fearing kickback or lethality. They can be designed for specific handler only use. They are not a perfect response but better than throwing an eraser at a gunman. They were outlawed in warfare for their effectiveness.

I agree it is undesirable to arm teachers; but teachers should be allowed to request "less than lethal" projectile launching mechanisms for self defense and defense of students. Two or three teachers can stop dogs and wild people with little fear of severe ricochet damage to bystanders.

Armed guards in schools is a backward step and an admission of impotence: any homicidal, gun-wielding nutcase would just go elsewhere. America has serious, underlying social problems which regularly throw up (often seemingly normal) disturbed citizens who have easy access to deadly weapons.

The kind of people who carry out these mass murders are invariably those with a grudge against life in general. Being able to walk into a gunshop to buy a machine gun defies imagination anywhere else in the developed world. Congress should develop a sense of decency and some guts, support Obama and amend the 2nd amendment.

I haven't heard of a highjacking since pilots began to have access to a firearm. It sounds crazy when you say it for the first time. In the year 2000 it would have sounded ridiculous if we had said arm pilots. Now they are armed and it makes a lot of since. Someone at the school should be armed. Maybe several people.

The NRA suggests we arm more people. Kinda like Adam Lanza's mom also did. See what happens then? Her kid killed people. If more were armed someone MIGHT be able to stop them before 26, but there are many more Adam Lanza types out there now too. How do we stop them?

"On December 17, 2012, Senator Feinstein announced the key provisions of the bill she intends to introduce. The proposed legislation will ban the sale, transfer, importation and manufacturing of over 100 specific firearms. Also banned will be certain named semiautomatic rifles, handguns and shotguns that can use a detachable magazine, as well as fixed magazines that can hold more than 10 rounds.

The sale, transfer, importation and manufacturing of other ammunition feeding devices that can accept more than 10 rounds will also be banned."

Really? Do we really need a one page article to say what's obvious to those of us who are sane and have half a brain? If they don't see the problem with this proposal, is a one page explanation going to change anything? By taking these topics seriously we are validating the opinions of extremely stupid people. Which would be fine if their opinions weren't going to get more kids killed.

No one in their right mind would suggest arming teachers as a way to protect and defend the innocents. HOWEVER, utilizing trained professionals well beyond the scope of the sterotypic 'rent a cop' combined with substantive and sophisticated technologies to raise the bar for access is step one. Paying for it is readily resolved with appropriate fees and dare I say taxes on all who purchase firearms, AND setting no holds barred penalities enforced without leeway for those who possess illegal firearms. Then tackle the issues of what types of gun registration processes, and mental health services are to be provided. Protecting the innocents now needs to be the first priority. Unfortunately schools are only one target of opportunity. Recognizably, any mass public gathering becomes equally at risk. But I'm just a simple guy....

Well, let's see. LaPierre graduated from high school in 1967. I can't seem to find any reference in his bio anywhere of any military service. Usually someone born in 1948 and then being of draft age in 1966 might have had some military service. But, I just can't find any. Usually someone that is so concerned about the constitution should be very very patriotic. Seems that people who served in the military during Vietnam would be considered to be patriotic. But I still am not sure about his patriotism. He went to college which means he got deferments but it seems that someone that is so concerned with freedom and his love of the USA and the constitution would have wanted to go and fight communism in an Asian country. He could have gone onto college after military service. It's just a puzzling thought that someone so "patriotic" just didn't have any military service. In fact his bio lists him as being a government activist and lobbyist ever since he finished college. Then he went on to the NRA. He actually has never had a real job. Seems he's always been involved with government at some level. And we all know what happens when you're involved with government, don't we. Corrupt comes to mind. It just seems that there is something a little fishy about this guy. Maybe he's so concerned with mental health care is because he's in need of some. Bob 1st Cav. Vietnam 67/68.

Arm teachers in the US? It is an option but I feel like it only further creates a culture of violence. Interestingly, I think that the risk of these events can be reduced by the actual structure of the school campus itself and the procedures that you follow. When I lived in South Africa, violence was a far greater problem than in America, abliet in different forms - strikers would often break into schools where I lived and teachers and pupils were sometimes killed. However, the school that I was at, and a few others came up with some simple answers.

Our school campus was surrounded by a fool - proof fence. The fence did not make it feel like a prison due to a cleverly-appealing design, but it served its purpose. The main entrance was gated with a security guard who sat in a small hut, and anyone wanting to get into the campus during school hours (ie not times when parents were bringing/ fetching kids) had to sign in, state their purpose etc. If they were suspicious, the guard would radio the office to see if they were expected or not.

The school campus was clever because the actual classrooms were right in the middle of a large campus, meaning that there was significant distance between the entrances and the main buildings - ample time for warning if someone suspicious did get onto the grounds. The main buildings themselves were also cleverly designed. There was a hollow atrium in the middle, where assemblys and concerts were done and two stories of classrooms rose all around the middle area . Every entrance to this block of classes at two ground corners had huge iron gates that they used to lock us securely into the middle - no one could get in through those gates and two stories of classrooms unless they had a bomb.

As well as the structure, procedure (although annoying) is actually very important. Drills. Places to go in situations. Children were also only allowed to be in the middle of the school during breaks (we didn't wander to the edges of the grounds) and there were always people on duty. communication between the guards and the staff and the police is obviously also important. So is communication with parents - our school had other buildings and designated 'safe areas' outside of the campus in the area, which the parents were aware of. So if needed, we could use one of the lesser - known back entrances to our school (also well protected) to reach these places that were off the grounds completely. The school also had a system of chain messaging which meant that parents got the word fast.

Lastly, you don't want schools to feel like prisons, you don't want kids to grow up in an environment that reminds you of airport security. Our school managed to disguise these features well in good presentation - it was gardens as well as locks and gates, but at least we knew that the measures were there.

Forget what Jambougurgess is saying.... he/she is just a refection of the bottom 2% of the population. They don't mean anything they say because they don't get it.

There are simply just two issues here.... ONE is to dismantel the NRA by having the IRS and FBI investigate this organizations past 3 years as an entity . Then TWO ... contact YOUR governent representative and demand that ALL military type weapons be abolished.

Sounds simple BUT.... remember ..... you have to ignore dumbass's like jamouburgess!!!!!

I have been in a stuation in which I was attacked and had no means of defense. It is a horrible situation to be in and is a crime for us to require teachers to be in that position. Allow trained armed carry with the teachers asap. The security in the schools should have been effectively increased when these things started years ago. The response was to put up a sign saying gun free zone. How stupid! Just think in the recent shooting if only 50% of the many adults killed had been armed the story would be so different today. The violence will only continue as the crazys move on to other tools if we fail to effectively arm the adults.

The idea seems to be that we should be armed at all times. I'm waiting for the cartoon tha shows everyone walking around with assualt rifles. Mowing the lawn, grocery shopping, washing the car, in a meeting at work etc. Utopia.

I teach, and you know what, the last thing I need in my classroom is a weapon. What am I supposed to do, wear it like a cop? Lock it in my desk? The whole concept is just so far out there, it hurts one's head.

NRA comments are really weak!!!!!!!!! So I guess every time we have a mass shooting we need to add a police officer!!!!!!!!! Wow what a way to correct a problem. Just have one of them bury a child or loved one from one of these shootings and their opinion will change.

Have you people forgotten how respected America and Americans were for nearly 200 years. We were one people, more or less, pulling for the things and ideas that helped everyone, that was willing to work, towards the same goals. A dream of peace, joy, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Citizens owned guns then with few if any mass shootings and yes, beginning around 1915, there were assault rifles made. (you can do the history if you want). What has changed the game is our pathetic lifestyle and morals in this Country. Our liberal views that everyone is entitled to do what they want. These 'over the top' entitlements and rights are far too many to list, but they have destroyed our moral character. For instance, video games that we allow our kids to play that depict murder by gun in the most graphic manner. Some of these kids play these for years and a kid with any mental problems could face a dilemma over what is real and not.I have already read that we cannot ban or control these because of our freedom of expression rights. How is it we can ban sex scenes and naked people doing something completely natural and not ban horror. This is only part of our problem, but one that must be corrected.

Laws that forbid the carrying of
arms, disarm only those who are neither inclined, nor determined to commit
crimes. Such laws make things worse for the assaulted and better for the
assailants. They serve rather to encourage than to prevent homicides, for an
unarmed man may be attacked with greater confidence than an armed man.
-- Thomas Jefferson, 1764

You stated that if there were armed guards the nutcase would go elsewhere--to another "gun-free zone" right?

@BobJan Interestingly most people who have seen military grade hardware in action are the last to want that military grade hardware on the streets. LaPierre is just another draft dodging coward pushing the agenda of the gun manufacturers and anarchists.

@dlee4 Yep casualties would have been so much less if more people were shooting at the shooter. You clearly have no idea of what happens in a firefight or the idiocy you just spouted would have been left untyped.

@dlee4 Really? You seem to ignore the FACT, the murderers Mother armed herself and this is the result we got. You want MORE kids like him with access to weapons? Really? Ya, you MAY stop him before he kills 26, but how do you stop him and a whole lot more just like him from killing any?

@Matt01 Yea and forget about violence from an outsider, what about the fact that you are also providing an opportunity for violence from inside the school itself? It just takes one messed up, angry student to try and use that gun, and there you have created the same situation. Personally, If I was in that classroom, I wouldn't take the risk.

Plain -clothes Marshals is a better idea because I don't think a student would be as likely to challenge a Marshall for his weapon than to challenge a teacher...after all the Marshal is paid to carry that weapon, and the teacher to teach. I wouldn't obscure that line.

@Matt01 At least consider the people that might want to legally carry and are confident enough to do what is necessary with a concealed gun in these current gun free areas. The Good Guys with guns are the only ones abiding by the NO GUN ZONES and disarming. No one is implying that all teachers be forced to carry a gun.

If you are disarmed then is someone responsible for your protection?

Why not get rid of the Gun Toting Secret Service and let President Obama just wonder around by himself? Oh and make sure Mr. Obama does not have any means to protect himself from criminals. How long would that work for him? A few minutes in a criminal laden ghetto he would lose his prized black berry phone and probably end up raped at the least.

You are painting American History with a very NOSTALGIC brush of delusion! Back in the early days of our history when most Americans carried guns, brutal gun fights were QUITE COMMON and MANY settlers died at the hands of their neighbors over disputes of QUESTIONABLE importance! The open frontier of the mid west and west was rife with lawlessness as the only REAL "law" was enforced by whoever had the biggest GUN! This was NOT a safe, pleasant nor fair country to live in for much of the first 200 years! We are MUCH more civilized now, but this insane culture of "gun worship" threatens to erode most of our hard earned civility! People who worship guns, often die by them as well...

@dontn123 If no less than 20 miles a way was a few countries that we have been at war with for the last 1,000 years then maybe so. The IDF, when on duty, do carry weapons everywhere they go, to the beach, to the store, everywhere... but I have not heard of a 1000 year war going on here in the USA. So, logic failed.

And how many MORE innocent victims might have been shot in the fray if there had been more than one person shooting, hmm? This could have been MUCH WORSE if there had been MORE BULLETS FLYING, DUH!!!! Do you put out fires by pouring gasoline on them?

@EmilyVict0ria@Matt01 I don't know. As it works now, most middle and high schools in larger cities already have uniformed Marshals on campus most of the time. Uniformed Marshals, the kids don't mess with at all. Bottom line is that there is little to do beyond change the culture and have a plan in place. Every school cannot have a cop, that's crazy. As of the 2011 there are 132,656 k-12 schools in the US. The NRA failed to mention that part. That would be one heck of a job creation plan for the guys and gals coming out of the service, but who is going to pay for that? It cost about 80k a year, inclusive, to have a police on each campus (car, training, pension, etc.) That's over 10,612,480,000 a year. That too is not an option. Yet the NRA says, fund it now. Really. How about a gun tax then. There are 300 million fire arms in the US.

@dontn123@Matt01 What you are suggesting is that everyone should carry a weapon as we are all responsible for our personal defense and that carrying a weapon everywhere we go is our only option. I don't want to live in a country where when I go shopping at the supermarket, go out to dinner, attend a football game, imagine that, a college football game where everyone is carrying a weapon, you know because self defense is a personal responsibility, that is not a country in which I want to live by any stretch of the imagination. Further that is not the country that I fought for...

I have been to countries in which the individual is responsible for their own personal security, they have names like Iraq, and Afghanistan. Just about everyone there has their own personal weapon and open carry. How is that working out in terms of personal safety? Sound safe to you? I can tell you it is not. I am troop to teacher, and I know my weapons, I know them enough to know they have no place in a classroom. None. Armor, 19K4A8. Do you know how many accidental discharges occur? Think about 54 people carrying weapons 24/7, it happens about once every six months or so, with professional soldiers. Lets let teachers carry in the classroom and just wait until the news of accidental discharges occur. "Teacher shoots herself cleaning per personal weapon after school." "A teachers weapon goes off accidentally when she opened her desk and injures student." No.

I have a hard enough time dealing with the concept of concealed carry. A two week training course for a total of 20 hours and you are good to go. How safe do you think I feel when the idiot standing next to me and my kids has a concealed handgun and thinks he/she knows what to do in an emergency. Let alone the change in behavior that carrying a weapon, (increased levels of don't mess with me, don't be rude to me, or don't even let me think you are being rude to me because I am in a bad mood) that many people tend to exhibit when they are carrying. No. Just no.

The bottom line difference is I am not going to shoot anyone over my wallet, etc. They can have it. Personal protection at home, sure (I own a 9mm). Hunting, sure. Neither one requires an AR-15. Which is a totally different conversation, as banning assault rifles is not going to change anything, I own a M1 Garand which is not and would not be covered by a ban. The issue here is accountability and reasonable social responsibility. Neither of which are expressed by the NRA, at least in my opinion. Have your gun, keep it at home. Go hunting with your rifle, take your hand gun to the range.

As for the Gun Toting Secret Service, I don't even know what to say... Are people actively targeting you for your position as the POTUS? As for your use of the ghetto as an example, it makes me wonder what you really think. Obama has about as much to do with the ghetto as I have to do with the meth using backwoods people here in Kentucky. Why would anyone go to a place where they knew they were putting their personal safety at risk?

You have never heard of the WAR on CRIME ruff ruff take a bite out of crime?

I served in the US Military and was in ISRAEL during the mid 1980's. Israel deals with TERRORIST trying to kill their people and their children. We are dealing with TERRORIST in the GUN FREE ZONES of the USA and they are killing the children. WTF is the difference? Other then one is JEWISH and One is Not? Does the thought of your loved ones being harmed cause you TERROR? If not then what is everyone doing in these conversations?

@dontn123@Matt01 The gun aspect of the War on Drugs can stop anytime the Government decides to stop shooting at drug runners and addicts. Ever hear of a drug dealer hold someone up for their wallet? Addiction is a different issue, but we as a nation have decided to treat drug usage as a form of violet crime. We created this war, we can end it anytime we decide to... War on crime? Really? The US is the safest it has been in in the last 40 years, look up the real numbers.

@Matt01@dontn123 Why are the JEWS in this Country wanting to get rid of all guns? Let's look at that for a moment just LOOK THEM UP for RELIGION Bloomberg and Feinstein are examples. Why dont they go back to ISRAEL and take the guns to stop the terrorist there? Peace in the Middle East.